Saturday, November 28, 2009

My Girls




Contrary to popular belief Nicki and Bell do stop biting; tackling; wrestling; stealing food from each other and crashing into furniture...every once in a while. Sometimes they even resist the urge to pee on the carpet. And every once in a great while they actually lay down and go to sleep all on their own...curled up together. (come on folks...collective sigh here...aaahhhhhhhhh)
Of course I like to encourage this behavior by not moving a muscle while Satan's Little Hand Maidens are asleep at my feet...sometimes ON my feet. You see, I'm frantic for some peace and quiet these days. Any time NOT spent separating them; yelling at them; taking mangled toys away from them; removing inedible items from their mouths; chasing them to retrieve personal property; or repeating basic words over and over and over again...is PRECIOUS to me! My vocabulary around the house these days consists mainly of two or three word sentences. No bite; drop it; leave it; Bell sit; Nicki sit; Bell lay down; Nicki lay down...and the ever popular STAY! (which is only one word, I know) I've also become an expert at saying their names in the age old tradition of all parents...drawing out the name...in the hope that by the time the name is complete the offending action will have stopped. NIIICCCKKKKIIII!!! It's said as a warning...sort of akin to a low growl before the big bite comes. It is generally ignored unless this technique is used before they are in full swing.

As I type, my little darlings are at each others throats again...literally. They are racing back and forth from room to room charging each other and crashing in mid air. There are teeth being displayed; barking that will make you deaf; and yelps of pain every so often..that go completely unheard by the pup that is doing the hurting. Each dog has a small bald spot on their body..sort of a trophy of war I guess. They are not often the sleeping angels you see in the picture; hence the nick name: Satan's Little Hand Maidens. I no longer find this kind of behavior cute, funny or even slightly amusing. Now I just want to rub a hundred balloons on them and stick them to the wall for about an hour or so. I've written to Santa for the first time since I was a child. And the first item on my list is a staple gun!

Ah the joys of puppy hood! Is there anything better than being responsible for the patch of missing hair on your sisters throat? Is it not the God given right of every puppy to haul her sister around by the collar whenever possible? Are days not created for chewing up every soft item a puppy can get her mouth around? What a glorious life it is indeed when a puppy can stuff herself with good wholesome food and top it off with a delicious sampling of dirt outside. Ahhh puppy hood...it's a wee miracle of life on four legs and I am privileged to be a part of it with these two ridiculous rowdy pups.

Having said that I can now rest easy in the knowledge that if this wonderful puppy hood goes on too long, Santa's got my back.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Baby on Board

One of my much loved cousins, Carolyn, is having a baby! She already knows it's going to be a boy and she has one daughter already so it's perfect. There is a lot of years between the kids so of course she needed to have a baby shower. Her three sisters pulled off a wonderful shower for her. Being of a mature age, I haven't attended many baby showers in the last few years. When I was having kids myself it seemed like someone was having a baby shower every week. I've noticed as you get older you attend more funerals and wakes than anything else so a baby shower is a very welcome event!

Jean, Sue and Pat did a great job making all the food; the cake; thinking up games to play and even providing grab bag gifts. There were individual gifts for some of the matriarchs in the family as well. It was a fun party and very well thought out. We don't get to see each other nearly enough and in the past year or so it's only been for funerals. So that made the whole party that much more special.

Jean made the cake and Heather decorated it. The message on it was God Bless Derek, so I said who is Derek? Jean said that's what Carolyn is naming the baby. Then Carolyn slid closer and promptly said 'actually Derek was the real father and he took off.' To which I promptly replied God Bless Derek! That was the beginning of the laugh fest. It seemed like one joke followed another all day long. I haven't laughed so much in a long time and it felt good! We took turns putting our own special slant of humor on the day by throwing out one zinger after another. Everything was funny...

Eventually I saw Sue taking pictures and remembered that's what I should be doing too. So here are the pictures from that day.
Oh yes, and the one solid red picture is a picture of Derek on the inside.